Suunto
Mantra: Conquer New Territory
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Measuring instruments |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Founder | Tuomas Vohlonen |
| Headquarters | Vantaa, Finland |
| Products | Outdoor-, Performance- and Lifestyle Watches, Diving Computers, Instruments, Compasses |
| Parent | Amer Sports |
| Website | www.suunto.com |
Suunto Oy is a company that manufactures and markets sports watches, dive computers, compasses and precision instruments. Headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto employs more than 300 people worldwide, and its products are sold in over 100 countries. Although globally active, the HQ is placed next to the factory, in which most of the work stages are still handcrafted. Suunto is a subsidiary of Amer Sports Corporation with sister brands Wilson, Atomic, Sports Tracker, Salomon, Precor, Arc'teryx and Mavic.
The word "suunto" can be translated as "bearing", "heading" or "direction".
In 1933 the company's founder, Tuomas Vohlonen, a surveyor by profession, applied for a patent for a unique method of filling and sealing a lightweight compass housing made entirely of celluloid and filled with liquid to dampen the needle and to protect it from shock and wear due to excessive motion. In 1935, Volhonen was granted a patent on his design, and it went into mass production a year later as the wrist-mount Suunto M-311. Although it was not the first portable liquid-filled compass, Vohlonen's design was compact and lighweight, enabling it to be easily worn on the wrist.
The company was entered in the trade register on February 4, 1936.
During World War II, Suunto introduced a compact liquid sighting compass, the M/40, for artillery officers and other users needing a precision instrument for measuring an azimuth. The company grew rapidly after the war, supplying compasses and other navigational instruments to both civilian and military markets.
After Tuomas Vohlonen died in 1939, his widow Elli Vohlonen ran the company until 1952, when she sold it to Paavo Kajanne, Aarne Mahnala and Veli-Jussi Hölsö, who also owned Redox Oy. At the very end of 1970s they sold the company to Niemistö family, and in the beginning of 1990s Sponsor Oy bought the company and listed it in a stock exchance in 1995. In 1999 Amer Sports bought the company.
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Wikipedia